Motor Sports

DECLINE AND FREEFALL OF USAC

by Larry Roberts

July 25, 1997

If the United States Auto Club (USAC) was an airplane, its latest
aerial maneuver could best be described as a tailspin. It's almost out
of control and it's going to take some skilled hands on the stick to get
it back under control. On the other hand, it may be that USAC has come
to the end of its evolutionary life, sort of like the sabertooth tiger.

Until last month, USAC was arguably the most prestigious sanctioning
body in American auto racing, although its importance had been going
downhill for many years. It had been formed in 1955 to take over as the
sanctioning body for American auto racing when the American Automobile
Association stepped away from the chore. The conservative AAA had been
the sanctioning body for American auto competitions of all kinds since
the turn of the century but the unprecedented number of racing
fatalities at the beginning of that decade made it pull away due to the
bad publicity. USAC was put together by members of the disbanded AAA
Competition Committee and it was business as usual from 1956 on.

And since it controlled the Indy 500, business was very good in
those days. It was the only organization allowed to sanction events in
this country that required international recognition and as such, it
officiated at all world land speed record attempts at the Bonneville
Salt Flats. It also operated the then-famous Mobile Economy Run which
pitted American auto makers against each other in several classes to see
who could squeeze the best fuel mileage from Los Angeles to Boston.

USAC pretty well had a lock on everything else too. Its Midget
Division (renamed "Compact Sprints" for a while) contained the cream of
the crop of those tiny quarter-miler oval track cars. Its Championship
Trail provided races for Indy Cars before and after the annual 500 race,
its Sprint Car Division cars were kings of half-mile tracks and it had a
Stock Car Division that was almost as prestigious as NASCAR. It was even
the official body that ran the Pikes Peak Hill Climb.

But with the coming of corporate sponsorship in professional auto
racing and the big money that came with it via television, USAC began to
lose its grip on the reins of American racing. The cost of Indy cars
skyrocketed and motorsports businessmen like Roger Penske began to call
the shots. With the formation of the Championship Auto Racing Teams
(CART) as the power behind the Indy 500 as well as what once was the
Championship Trail, USAC as a sanctioning body went into a decline.

USAC loyalists were heartened in '95 when Tony George, scion of the
family that owns the Indianapolis Speedway itself, ousted CART and its
million-dollar race cars and formed the Indianapolis Racing League
(IRL), an organization that would again put USAC into the limelight. IRL
cars were to be cheaper to build and operate and provide an opportunity
for less well-heeled teams to get into the Indianapolis 500.

The scoring, timing and administration of IRL events was to be done
by USAC, but problems began to arise immediately. At the Indy 500, a
quasi-accident near the end of the race lead to the starter giving the
green go-ahead flag to the race winner while the driver of the second
place car was given a yellow caution light, a gaff that was caused by
USAC officials. The IRL race at Texas International Raceway a few weeks
later became a PR nightmare when USAC scoring broke down, neglected to
credit Arie Luyendyk with two laps and gave the win to Bobby Boat who
drove for A.J. Foyt. In the ensuing melee, Foyt punched Luyendyk in full
view of the TV cameras.

Tony George then decided that his problem-ridden IRL didn't need
additional troubles caused by USAC, thanked it for its services and took
over sanctioning duties in-house.

But USAC still has its own agenda: it sanctions Midget and Sprint
Car races around the U.S. and co-sanctions Formula Ford 2000 races with
the Sports Car Club of America, but its glory days are gone.

I just hope it doesn't crash, burn and follow the sabertooth tiger
into the La Brea Tar Pits.

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